


Meanwhile, In Sickbay

by jacquelee



Series: Star Trek Voyager Without White Guys [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 17:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6249703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was always confused by the fact that every single member of Voyager's medical staff died in that accident at the beginning. Were all of them on duty? What if some of them didn't get there early enough when the red alert was announced, which was right before the hit? What if you changed one thing about the canon and this one thing has a lot of consequences?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meanwhile, In Sickbay

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to [Small Decisions Can Have Big Consequences](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6248758), the first part of this series. It's not important to have read the other fic though, this fic stands on its own. 
> 
> Written for a challenge at [allthingsfandom](http://allthingsfandom.livejournal.com) for the bingo prompt 24 Hours Earlier.

"I am hereby promoting Lieutenant Chioma Mokeme to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. I am also officially instating Lieutenant Commander Chioma Mokeme as Chief Medical Officer. Congratulations! I am sure you will do a fine job." 

Janeway smiled widely, pinned the new pip to Mokeme's uniform and held out her hand. Mokeme shook the Captain's hand and smiled back. 

"Thank you Captain! I won't disappoint you." 

With another smile Captain Janeway returned to the seat behind her table.

"I know you won't. You have free reign in choosing a new staff for sickbay. Whoever is qualified and willing, both from the Voyager crew and the Maquis crew. You said that the EMH could also help with schooling of new medical personnel?" 

The captain had sat down and now looked up at the Commander expectantly. Mokeme nodded.

"Yes, we've looked into that possibility. He is not very willing or polite for that matter, but he does have a far greater medical knowledge than both me and Lieutenant Jones. Setting up some classes for those crewmembers who would be willing to help out in sickbay and specifically taking Lieutenant Jones' training further so that she can qualify as doctor is our main priority and I am sure the EMH can help us greatly there." 

"I have absolute confidence that you will succeed in getting sickbay up and running again soon. We've suffered a great loss and you had to bear the brunt of it but now we can look into the future. If… when we get back to Earth I will commend you for going above and beyond your duties here on Voyager." 

"Thank you Captain." 

"One more thing. Your quarters. I know it could be uncomfortable to move into the Chief Medical Officer's quarters right after Doctor Smith's death but since you are now a member of the senior staff, it would be the most appropriate step." 

"I know. I understand that and I will move as quickly as possible. Just, one request. I don't know if you are aware, but Ajita Jones and I are married, and when we were assigned to Voyager, we were given the same quarters. I understand that it could be a breach of protocol, since she is not a member of the senior staff, but I discussed it with her and we do not want to be separated. So if we could move into those quarters together, I would appreciate that." 

The captain had listened with tense features but now a smile formed on her face.

"Of course! The senior staff's quarters are bigger than the crew quarters anyways, so I am sure you'll find them adequate. It might not be exactly according to protocol, but I guess giving this extraordinary situation we can make an exception." 

Now Mokeme smiled too.

"Thank you again, Captain. Oh, but there's another thing, the woman we rescued from the Kazon and who helped us escape the Ocampa complex." 

"Yes, I remember her. Kes, right?" 

"Yes. She asked me if I could put a word in for her. She would like to speak to you about staying onboard. She already helped me and Lieutenant Jones in sickbay quite a bit, she wants to be a nurse and she is definitely a fast learner. 

There is also the question of getting by in this quadrant without knowing anything about it and she apparently got around quite a bit with her partner before being captured by the Kazon, so she knows more about it than any of us." 

"I don't know. I wasn't planning on taking on passengers. Her partner does not want to stay? I've given orders to refuel his ship and I thought they would be on their way." 

"He did but they had a fall out and he decided to leave without her. She could certainly try to get back to the underground complex, but to be honest, I think we are talking more about an asylum situation than a passenger situation here. I don't know how much danger she would be in from the Kazon if we leave her here but I have gotten to know her a bit over the last day and I do know that she would be a valuable addition to our crew."

Captain Janeway nodded slightly and smiled a little.

"Alright. I have the feeling we need all the help we can get in this quadrant if we want to be able to get back to Earth in one piece. I will speak with her. Thank you, Commander" 

Now the Captain's smile grew wider. Mokeme also smiled at the recognition of her new rank.

"Captain."

Leaving the ready room light hearted and nodding towards Kes encouragingly, who had waited for her and now entered the ready room, Mokeme caught the eye of Stadi, who sat at the helm but had looked in her direction when the ready room door opened. Mokeme pointed subtly to her neck and Stadi gave a little nod and smile of acknowledgment. 

Once Mokeme was in the turbo lift to get to sickbay, where Jones was no doubt waiting for her, she reflected on everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. Or, well, in the last twenty four hours that they actually had been conscious, discounting the nearly seventy hours they had been subjected to medical tests on the caretaker array. 

These twenty four hours that she remembered definitely were some of the most eventful in her life. Yes, being promoted, even under these circumstances, was a good ending to everything that happened, an ending far better than what she could have anticipated. But it would still take her quite a long time to work through all of these memories. 

Everything had started with Lieutenant Stadi. Of course Mokeme had already talked to Jones about what would have happened if Stadi hadn't hit Mister Paris and if she and Jones hadn't gone to see Stadi right before the ship entered the badlands. It wasn't a very happy thought that all three of them would very likely be dead now, killed in the initial hit Voyager took from the displacement wave that brought them here.

Exiting the turbo lift and walking towards sickbay, Mokeme went back in her mind to that moment and everything that happened afterwards. 

***

The hit didn't take them completely by surprise, the red alert and the Captain's warning gave them at least some moments to find something to hang on to. But it was still devastating. 

Mokeme was thrown through the room and only her Starfleet training saved her from serious injury. As it was, her right arm was very likely broken, but everything else was still in one piece. After making sure that the others were okay, they waited a few moments for more hits. 

But there were no more warnings through the comm system and they assumed the situation was at least temporarily safe and hurried towards their respective stations. 

Neither Mokeme nor Jones said anything about Stadi going off towards the bridge. At a moment like this, small things like a court martial for disobeying an order were quite irrelevant and they all knew that. 

On their way to sickbay they already met one injured crewmember being helped there by a colleague. Seeing that Mokeme's arm was broken, Jones was the one to quickly examine the crewmember to see if immediate intervention was necessary and who then, with the aid of the other crewmember, carried her to sickbay.

Entering sickbay was even more of a shock than the corridors had been. There was an open fire. Everything was drenched in smoke, conduits were open and hanging from the ceiling. One of the main consoles had very clearly exploded. 

"Put out the fire please, I'll take it from here." 

Determined to keep functioning and do what had to be done, Mokeme found a way together with Jones to put the injured crewmember on a biobed. When the crewmember was stabilized, she took a bone regenerator and used it on her broken arm. 

Far too sure about why nobody else from sickbay came to their aid, Mokeme didn't dare looking too closely in the direction of the crewmember who had put out the fire by now and had returned to her station after asking if there was anything else she could do and being told there was nothing. 

But sure enough, at some point she had to turn around and face up to what was there. Ajita had also tried to avoid looking in that direction and now that they both stepped towards the damaged console, she let out a scream and gazed wide eyed at the bodies scattered on and around the console. Mokeme herself managed to remain calm, but it was only a superficial calm.

Every single one of their colleagues was dead. All of them. Jones and her looked at each other, both of them knowing that if they had been here, this would have been their fate too, as protocol demanded in the event of a red alert that the personnel of sickbay gather around the main console to await orders from the bridge. 

There was nothing they could do for any of them. They checked the bodies as was required, but both of them knew it was too late for them. 

Mokeme and Jones didn't have time to dwell on the deaths of their colleagues, as injured crewmembers now started to come or be carried into sickbay. Thankfully, for a hit of this magnitude there seemed to be very few serious injuries. 

Only a handful of crewmembers came in and all of them were treatable by Mokeme and Jones on their own and with the assistance of Ensign Kim, who had been send from the bridge to check why sickbay wasn't responding and to update them on the fact that Voyager had been transported to the other side of the galaxy, the Delta Quadrant.

When Stadi hailed her from the bridge Mokeme had to restrain her emotions quite a bit so that she was able to give a calm and succinct report about the deaths of the sickbay personnel and the situation here. 

After that, she smiled at the crewmember she was treating at the moment, reassuring her that her injuries weren't severe and that she could return to her station. 

The crewmember nodded and moved to get up when she vanished in a flash. Mokeme turned her head rapidly but instead of the rest of sickbay, she saw a cornfield. 

Taking a few seconds to adjust to the situation, Mokeme looked around these new surroundings and saw that Ajita, their patients and Ensign Kim had all been transported here – wherever here was – too. 

"Okay, what just happened?" 

Ajita looked at her questioningly. 

"No idea, but let's get these people stabilized. A ride from a biobed to a cornfield. Not what I would recommend in this situation." 

Putting the questions they had about their whereabouts in the back of their heads, they first made sure that all their patients were lying as comfortable as they could on this ground. Sending Ensign Kim to find someone to report to and hopefully explain where they were, they then proceeded to make an inventory list of the things they still had. 

Ajita had been holding a medical tricorder when they where transported, so at least they could check on their patient's status. Other than that they only had the things their patients carried with them, no medical instruments at all. Thankfully, none of the patients needed immediate medical intervention at this moment, so the lack of instruments was not as tragic as it could have been. 

"Where do you think we are?" 

Ajita had sat down in the grass, settling next to their patients and awaiting the return of Ensign Kim. Mokeme sat down next to her and shrugged. 

"No idea. Probably a holographic projection or something. Looks a lot like rural Earth, but when what Ensign Kim said is right, we just were in the Delta Quadrant, so that is not that likely." 

"Maybe we got rammed by like, super powerful aliens, whisked away to the Delta Quadrant and this is their way of apologizing by taking us back all the way to Earth?" 

Mokeme laughed. 

"Well, who knows. I don't really think this is Earth though, no shuttles, no chatter on the comm lines. No, I would still bank on this all being a hologram." 

Ajita nodded. 

"Yeah, prob-"

There was a commotion in the field and a middle aged light skinned woman who wore glasses and looked like a human in traditional southern American rural attire came into their view. She was carrying a tray of what looked like food. 

Both Mokeme and Jones got up, ready to find out what was going on here or to defend their patients when necessary.

"Oh, you poor people, we did not know there were injured among you. I will get you something to drink and some food, shall I? Make yourself comfortable here while you wait." 

"Wait for what?" 

There was no use in asking apparently, as the woman – or the person appearing to be a human woman – had put the tray down and then already scurried away again. 

But right after she had left, Ensign Kim came back. He apparently had heard that last sentence. 

"No use in asking them anything. There's more of those, all holograms. The only thing they do is offer you food – the captain said not to eat it as a precaution – and tell you to wait, that's it. It seems to be some kind of potluck in a rural setting, with holograms posing as neighbors. There's dancing. One is playing the banjo." 

"Oh my gods, okay, I'm good here, don't even try getting me anywhere near the house. Nuh-uh." 

Ajita grimaced comically. Mokeme couldn't suppress her laugh completely. She knew all too well and shared Ajita's aversion to all things traditionally rural southern US American. Those parts of Earth where everything seemed to have stayed the same as it had been five hundred years ago, barring some technological advances, were not the parts where either of them liked to spend time very much. Or where either of them was welcome.

Kim cleared his throat.

"Apparently they pulled this scenario mainly out of the Captain's head. She grew up on a farm in Iowa, so…" 

Ajita raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything more. Kim turned to Mokeme. 

"The crew is all accounted for, all of them here in this simulation. We are still in the Delta Quadrant, inside of the array we have seen before. So far, we don't know why we are here. The captain said to ask you if you need more assistance. If not, you're to stay here and everyone else is to look for a holographic generator. We have something like a temporary command check in in front of the farmhouse, if anyone needs anything." 

"Thank you. We're good here. If we need something, we'll come and ask." 

Kim nodded, gave Jones a look that seemed to border on sympathetic understanding and went back. 

Once he was out of sight, Ajita groaned. 

"Please tell me he isn't going to tell the Captain that I insulted her heritage. Not that I have a problem doing that, but I'd rather do it to her face." 

Chioma laughed. 

"No, I don't think so. I also don't think he feels all that comfortable here either." 

Ajita let herself fall back into the grass. 

"Whatever these people or aliens or whatever want from us, I wish they would just get it over with. Cornfields make me sneeze." 

Sitting next to her again, Chioma let out a little laugh. 

"It's a holographic cornfield." 

"I don't think my nose knows that." 

They both laughed and for a while they just sat next to each other, each contemplating their own thoughts. Then Ajita snuggled next to Chioma and laid her head on her shoulder, as they often did. Chioma kissed Ajita's forehead.

"You wanna talk about it?" 

Ajita was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. 

"About how everyone we worked with has been burnt to a crisp and how if we had been there that would have been us? About how I feel bad for them that they're dead but also immensely grateful and elated to be still alive? About how if it's actually true that we are in the Delta Quadrant we might never get back home to Earth ever again? About how that should disturb me but doesn't because we are together? That what you mean?"

Mokeme laughed again. 

"Yeah. That."

They snuggled some more and somehow landed on their backs in the grass, trying to not lose sight of the patients but also be as comfortable as possible. 

"I don't think we need to talk about any of that, do we? At least not now that there is still uncertainty all around. Later. Later we can talk about everything." 

"You're right. Well, assuming we're not going to be eaten by evil aliens or something." 

Now they both laughed again. 

"Well, that's always a risk, right?" 

They fell into a comfortable silence, snuggled into each other. 

Then suddenly, there was another flash and everything changed yet again. This time, Mokeme found herself lying half naked on her back on some unknown surface, with her arms hanging down her sides. 

She couldn't move more than her eyes. Next to her, she saw Ajita, who looked in her direction, terrified. Behind her there were rows of people, presumably the crew of Voyager. Chioma wanted to call out to Ajita but she couldn't bring out a word. Then she saw a medical instrument being lowered onto her abdomen and screamed. After that she lost consciousness. 

She woke up lying on the ground in sickbay. Getting up as quickly as possible, she saw Ajita right across the room, also getting to her feet. The patients were all lying in the biobeds again, in exactly the same position they had been left in.

Everything seemed to be the same as it was when they had been taken away. Except for one thing. Mokeme turned to Jones. 

"Where is Ensign Kim? Shouldn't he be here?" 

"I don't know." 

Jones shrugged. 

"Computer, localize Ensign Kim." 

"Ensign Kim is not on board." 

Now both Mokeme and Jones raised their eyebrows. Mokeme tapped her comm badge. 

"Mokeme to Captain Janeway." 

"Go ahead." 

"Captain, Ensign Kim did not return with us from the array. The computer confirms that he is not on board Voyager." 

"Acknowledged." 

After that conversation, Mokeme and Jones took stock as to what was to do now. Mainly they prepared for accompanying an away team on a mission to the array to find out what had happened and where Ensign Kim was. Since what had happened to them had been very clearly medical examinations and since Ensign Kim might require medical assistance, having someone from medical there would be only logical. 

Both of them gathered supplies and looked after their patients together. Ajita was checking data on the auxiliary console.

"Whoa, if this is right we've been over there for three days." 

"Three days? Really? Feels like just a couple of hours. That'll be fun in our memoirs." 

They grinned at each other. Then the awaited call came.

"Captain Janeway to Mokeme." 

"Mokeme here." 

"Meet us in transporter room 2. We are beaming over to the array to find out what happened and where Ensign Kim and a likewise missing crewmember of the Maquis ship are." 

"Of course. I will be right there." 

Mokeme took the medkit and turned to Jones. 

"I'll be right back." 

"I know. Don't get dead, yeah?" 

Chioma laughed a little but it was choked by the events that had just transpired. 

"Of course. I love you." 

"Love you too." 

They kissed each other briefly and then Mokeme left for the transporter room. 

Arriving there she saw that Lieutenant Tuvok, who was already back in his Starfleet uniform, and two members of the Maquis, both human appearing males, also accompanied the away team. 

When they got to the array, the captain teamed her up with Tuvok and one of the Maquis to find out as much as possible about the array while she herself searched for the missing crewmembers with the other Maquis. Tuvok, Mokeme and the Maquis walked in silence to a barn that Tuvok had determined to be the place they had been held. There was now technology there, an examination room of some kind. 

They had barely began studying it when there was a flash and they were back on Voyager's bridge. 

Since the Captain determined that there was no point in trying to go back to the array, Mokeme went back to sickbay. On her way, she was approached by one of the Maquis that had been on the array with her, who had a tattoo on his forehead. He introduced himself as Chakotay, the Maquis Captain and asked if it would be possible to treat some of his most injured crewmembers in Voyager's sickbay as Starfleet facilities were much better than the ones on his ship. She agreed. 

Back in sickbay, Ajita greeted her with a smile. Together they treated the wounded Maquis, some of them having received terrible burns when their ship was whisked away by the array. 

When it seemed to be relatively quiet, they fell into a system they had utilized in emergency situations before, in which one of them would sleep for a couple of hours and the other would stay in sickbay on duty. 

Not that they ever actually had been in a situation as bad as this, everyone else in sickbay being dead and them being thousands of light years away from home, but they had been the only sickbay staff on the small science vessel they had been stationed on before, so this schedule was well known by them. 

Not that it was well liked, since it allowed them only little time together, but right now it was hopefully temporary until Captain Janeway found a way to bring them back home or until other crewmembers could be trained to fill the void in sickbay. 

After a few hours, Mokeme was called on again to accompany an away team, this time to the planet the array had been sending energy pulses to. The captain had picked up an alien who said that it was a possibility for their missing crewmembers to be there. 

Arriving on the planet, a stony desert under a hot, yellow sun, they went up to a settlement of people the alien, Neelix, called Kazon-Ogla, which confused the captain who had been under the impression that their people were held by the Ocampa. 

Nearing the settlement, they were immediately surrounded by humanoid aliens who harshly shoved them towards their buildings, carried Neelix away and took all their weapons. They seemed to want to execute Neelix until he said he brought people who could make water out of thin air, a statement Lieutenant Stadi proved by giving a water bottle to the person who appeared to be the leader of the Kazon-Ogla. 

"You have more?" 

Instead of acknowledging them, Janeway just tapped her communicator. 

"Janeway to Voyager. Energize." 

The two tanks filled with water appeared a few steps away from the settlement. 

The Kazon-Ogla leader bartered with Janeway. Her questions of taking them to the Ocampa led him to point out a thin, light skinned, young woman in a doorway who appeared to have been badly beaten. Mokeme stirred, willing to give medical aid to this person who clearly needed it, but a sideways look from the captain stopped her. Now was not the time. 

They exchanged some more information, most importantly that the Ocampa lived underground and were provided for by the entity occupying the array whom they called Caretaker. Then all of a sudden, Neelix held a weapon to the leaders throat and forced the remaining Kazon-Ogla to give the away team back their weapons. Then he held out his arms and the abused woman ran into them, after which he fired holes into the water tanks which distracted the Kazon-Ogla. 

"I strongly suggest you get us out of here." 

Janeway side eyed him but still tapped her comm badge. 

"Seven to beam up." 

In the transporter room, it became apparent that Neelix had known the woman before and that he had planned her escape. Mokeme was very weary of him and escorted the woman, who introduced herself as Kes, to sickbay. 

Everyone from the away team came with them, so that the medical examination Mokeme and Jones performed became more of a debriefing to both of their dislike. But they didn't want to say anything about it since the Captain seemed bend on finding out right now what was happening and how to fix it.

Kes tried to take the blame for Neelix' behaviour on herself, something Mokeme could only raise an eyebrow about to Ajita. Ajita nodded in understanding. It was very clear to both of them that this young woman was definitely not to blame and that she was trapped in a relationship that was very unhealthy for her. 

But they couldn't say much about it. At least Kes insisted on helping the crew of Voyager find a way to get Kim and the Maquis crewmember, Torres, back, against Neelix' wishes. 

When the others left to regroup before they tried beaming into the underground Ocampa facilities, Chioma communicated to Ajita that she wanted to talk to Kes alone. Ajita came up to Neelix to tell him about the necessary examinations and vaccinations every alien had to take when being on a Starfleet vessel for a specific time and insisted in performing them right now. 

Neelix was reluctant to leave Kes but then still went. When Mokeme was left alone with Kes she tried to start a conversation. She decided to just go to the heart of the problem, because Ajita wouldn't be able to distract Neelix for long.

"How did you end up with the Kazon-Ogla if you had been with Neelix before?" 

"Oh, that was not his fault. He wanted to trade with them and they misunderstood. He would have never left me if he had had a chance to get to me." 

"But he didn't try before our arrival did he?" 

"The Kazon would have killed him. He would never have succeeded without you, I know that. I am very happy that you came." 

"He did not even mention you to us at all." 

Now Kes hesitated a little. 

"He probably thought if you knew he wanted to save me you wouldn't have come." 

"Maybe. You know, we help those in need. Or at least we try to. We would never leave someone in a situation like the one you were in." 

"You are a doctor, right?" 

"Yes." 

"I always wanted to be a doctor. Neelix says it's a silly dream and that we will just go away together and be traders, like we did before." 

"Then he doesn't know anything. Being a doctor is not silly, it is a wonderful way of learning and helping others." 

Kes now seemed to have quite a lot to think about. She stayed quiet for a few moments and Mokeme decided not to press on. Finally, Kes seemed to have reached a conclusion of sorts. She looked up. 

"I don't know where else to go. I don't want to stay in the settlement. That is why I left in the first place. I want to see the stars! I want to see other planets and meet other life forms. I want to experience life, not just be cooped up underground, provided for by an entity I've never even seen." 

Mokeme sensed an opportunity.

"You know, our medical staff got killed when we got thrown halfway through the galaxy by your Caretaker. I am sure the captain wouldn't mind the addition of someone who wants to learn to be a doctor. Especially if you already have some knowledge in the field. Do you?" 

"Not really. But I know a lot about plants and herbs. And I am a very fast learner." 

Now hope shone in Kes' eyes. She seemed to be more and more eager about this idea. 

"Oh, and I could help you set up a way to grow plants here. Since you probably will run into difficulties trading and providing for your crew. This can be a hostile sector with all the Kazon sects constantly at war. I know quite a bit about it from my time with Neelix." 

Mokeme smiled at her. This went better than she had hoped. 

"I am sure the captain would love to have you on board." 

Unfortunately, Neelix came back at that moment. 

"Let's go to our quarters, dearest." 

At first it seemed that Kes wanted to follow him as she no doubt always had done but then she thought otherwise.

"I would rather stay here. They will find a way to get to the settlement soon and I'd like to see what I can do to help here until then." 

Neelix seemed to be taken aback by that. 

"Well, you know who you want to spend your time with, but I wanted to show you the miracles their food replicator can perform. I know how much you like my cooking but that machine of theirs is really wondrous." 

Kes appeared to be torn between staying and doing what she wanted and not disappointing Neelix. 

Fortunately, in that moment, someone came in with an injury and Kes could justify wanting to stay and learn more about it. Neelix was left to grumble and walk out of the door. 

Mokeme treated the injury and saw that Kes was indeed a fast learner, taking everything she explained to her to heart. After the crewmember was healed, both Jones and Mokeme explained some more procedures to Kes, who became more and more lively talking about medicine and biology. 

Far too soon, Captain Janeway called them over the comm system that they were ready to beam to the Ocampa settlement. Kes and Mokeme went to the transporter room, leaving Jones in charge of sickbay. 

Arriving at the settlement, Mokeme could see immediately why Kes didn't want to stay here. Oh, outwardly it all seemed to be beautiful, advanced and perfect, but with the huge monitors that showed the outside world and the ceilings that couldn't sufficiently mask the fact that this was a cave, albeit an enormous one, this felt far more like a prison than anything else. 

Kes still evidently had friends here, running up to one of the Ocampa and hugging him, much to Neelix' disapproval as Mokeme noticed. When another Ocampa who clearly disapproved of Kes' running away and of her return appeared, they all got a glimpse of how strong Kes could be. 

Even Neelix seemed surprised at how vehemently she argued and how willing she was to go to great length to help people she had just met. 

After they had learned that Kim and Torres weren't at the clinic where they reportedly should be and hadn't been there for hours, they split up, Mokeme going with Stadi, Kes and Neelix to see if Kim and Torres had tried to use the same tunnels Kes had escaped through before. 

Some time after they left the others, the settlement was hit by some sort of massive burst and shook violently. They doubled their speed. Arriving at the shaft, Stadi scanned up with her tricorder. 

"They're in here. I can't see them but they are definitely here." 

She hailed the Captain who told them to get Kim and Torres and then get beamed out. But before they could even get up the shaft, Janeway hailed them again to tell them that the transporters stopped working underground and they all had to get through the way Kes had gotten out before. 

After ascending a few landings, their group found Kim and Torres sitting on a landing, exhausted from the climb. Mokeme immediately scanned them and found dangerous looking open infections on their skin. She tried to sound optimistic when she told them that it would definitely be possible to treat them. She hoped she wasn't lying. 

Stadi hailed the captain in the meantime, to tell her that they had found Kim and Torres. Janeway said to not wait for her, Chakotay, and Tuvok but rather to get to safety. Kes said she knew where to get through the barrier and together they helped Kim and Torres. 

Arriving on the top they made it through the barrier one by one and then shot their way through to the surface, climbing up into the scorching heat. 

"Stadi to Voyager. Can you beam us out now?" 

"Affirmative. But I'm reading only six signals?" 

"The others are-"

"Get down!" 

Mokeme had noticed the giant fireball descending on the planet and all of them went down on the ground right before a huge explosion hit the tunnel behind them. When the dust settled, Stadi tried to hail the Captain and the others but came up empty. 

She exchanged looks with Mokeme, who nodded and got up. 

"Voyager, prepare to beam up everyone in this group except for Lieutenant Mokeme and me." 

"You're not planning on going back there, are you?" 

Neelix seemed to be outraged at that idea. But neither Mokeme nor Stadi even glanced into his direction, they just moved forward into the direction of the shaft. 

"Wait. I can't let you go. I'm the man, I can't let two women go on their own on a fool's errant." 

Both of them turned around and stared at Neelix for a second, not knowing what to say to that. But they didn't have to say anything. 

"What does that mean?" 

Kes glared at Neelix, who started to squirm.

"Well, dearest, it just means that men are better suited for missions like that. You know." 

"No, I don't. You know what, I will go with them too. I am sure if the shaft collapsed they will need all the help they can get." 

Now they both glared at each other and Mokeme decided to diffuse the situation. She tapped her commbadge.

"Mokeme to Jones. Be prepared to get wounded." 

"Acknowledged." 

"Voyager, lock in on my comm badge and beam two people straight to sickbay." 

She gave Kim her commbadge and stood back when the transporters activated. Without any further discussion, the four of them started towards the tunnels, Kes still fuming and Neelix still grumbling. 

It turned out that the other group had made it nearly to the surface. Tuvok and Janeway were helped out of the tunnels by Kes and Neelix while Stadi and Mokeme stayed to help Chakotay, who had unfortunately been separated from the group and was now trapped on a landing that had been ripped off from the rest of the construction. The whole landing was in accute danger of falling into the chasm, taking Chakotay with it. 

"Can you jump over here?" 

Stadi indicated the landing both she and Mokeme stood on, which still seemed to be fastened to the wall safely and was only about a meter away, a distance that should be easily overcome, but the way Chakotay was half lying down, clinging to the handhold of his landing clearly indicated that he was too injured to do that. 

"No. My leg is broken. Get out of here." 

"Yeah, like that will happen." 

Mokeme got out a bone regenerator from her medkit and showed it to Chakotay.

"Do you know how to use one of these?" 

Chakotay nodded and Mokeme threw the instrument over to him. He used it on his leg and was then able to carefully stand up and with the two lieutenants' help made it to the safe landing, not a moment too soon as the other landing fell down into the chasm immediately after he had reached safety. 

"Thanks."

Mokeme smiled and took the bone regenerator back. 

"No problem. Let's get out of here." 

They finally left the tunnels for good and were beamed up to Voyager. 

In sickbay, Ajita had already devised a possible treatment for Torres and Kim, which Mokeme looked over, fine tuned and then applied. Their illness might have looked gruesome but it was actually just an infection with flesh eating bacteria that could be treated by generating a specific antibiotic that was easily replicated. 

Chakotay needed some more treatment for his leg, even though he had done a pretty good job himself with the bone regenerator. Then he and Torres returned to their own ship. Kes stayed in sickbay, much to the dismay of Neelix, who wanted to leave on his ship before the Kazon-Ogla retaliated against Voyager. 

From what Mokeme could gather, the array, which apparently had changed position much closer to the fifth planet to fire on it, was now under siege by two Kazon ships, in league with the Kazon-Ogla. 

The ensuing firefight shook up the ship a few times but there weren't any injuries so far. The firefight happening in sickbay was much more interesting for both Mokeme and Jones, even though they tried to stay out of it as much as possible. Kes, fed up with Nelix' behaviour, threw at him everything she had never told him but had always wanted to say. 

"You left me. Do you even know what the Kazon did to me? What Jabin did to me?" 

"Dearest, I-" 

"I am not your dearest. I have no idea how I didn't see this before. You are just as bad as the Ocampa leaders who wanted to keep me inside the settlement. I don't want anything to do with you anymore." 

Now Neelix got angry.

"Oh, right? And where will you go, hm? I saved you when you crawled out of that tunnel. I showed you the world outside the settlement. Without me, you wouldn't have survived a week. And this is how you show your gratitude?" 

Kes glared at him. 

"I do not owe you anything." 

"So what will you do? Who will protect you?" 

Kes looked around to Mokeme and Jones, who nodded encouragingly. 

"I will stay with these people. They will train me as a doctor and I will help them." 

Neelix scoffed. 

"Right! You don't even know them! You met them less than a day ago. They will turn their backs on you in a heartbeat!" 

"Like you turned your back on me when you left me with the Kazon? I will take my chances." 

Neelix grabbed her arm and Jones took a step forward to intervene if necessary. But Kes shook herself free on her own and stepped back. 

"Go!" 

"I will. You will see, you will come running back. But don't expect me to take you." 

He stormed out of sickbay. 

Both Chioma and Ajita came to Kes to console and congratulate her. She was now far less sure of herself. 

"What if Captain Janeway doesn't let me stay?" 

"She will, I promise. See, my awesome wife here, she is the Chief Medical Officer, not officially yet but practically and I am sure, in a few hours she will receive a promotion and that position. And that means she will have free range in picking out personnel for sickbay. That definitely includes people like you, who know this part of space and already have medical knowledge and want to learn more." 

Kes smiled at them. 

"I hope so. I really want to stay here." 

"You will. As Ajita said, I will have free range in picking personnel for sickbay and the Captain will be glad to know that we already found someone. For now, how about Ajita shows you to the guest quarters that have been set up for Neelix? I'm sure the captain won't mind you using them." 

"Thank you." 

Both Ajita and Kes left sickbay and Chioma checked up on the few patients that were still here and on anything left hanging. She was exhausted. This had been a very long day, or rather night, and she had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep. She longed for her bed, for snuggling with Ajita and forgetting the pain and grieve that still lingered in her for a few moments. 

But that was not possible right now. There was nobody to take over sickbay. Not until they got back home. If they got back home. So she settled on the desk and occupied herself with making a list of which crewmembers would likely be able and willing to learn some medical skills to take over some shifts in sickbay, if the array was not able to send them back to the Alpha Quadrant immediately. 

Halfway through the list, Ajita came back, took the other chair and sat next to Chioma. 

"Word on the corridors is that the array got destroyed by Captain Janeway to keep it from falling into Kazon hands." 

Chioma raised her eyebrows.

"From what we've seen of the Kazon, she was probably right." 

"Yeah. That also means we won't be able to get home anytime soon. So, I guess me saying that you'll be the Chief Medical Officer wasn't presumptuous after all." 

Chioma smiled and took Ajitas hand. 

"I guess not. I just hope we'll be able to get some staff soon, so that we can get some time off together. I would hate having to sleep without you again." 

"Me too." 

For a few moments, they just sat together, silently, looking over the list. Then Ajita looked up suddenly.

"Hey, what about that hologram? That Emergency Medical Program? Can't it take over for a few hours right now so that we can get some sleep together?" 

Chioma cocked her head to the side. 

"I don't know. I've never tried it. But let's see. Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram." 

A light skinned human male appeared. 

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." 

Both Jones and Mokeme got up. 

"None right now but we are the only sickbay personnel at the moment and we need some sleep. Does your program allow you to look over these patients and call us whenever there is an emergency?" 

The doctor raised his eyebrows. 

"I am programmed with information from 2,000 medical references and the experience of 47 physicians, meaning I encompass all of Starfleet's current medical knowledge. I can perform over 5 million possible treatments and you want me to play babysitter?" 

Mokeme and Jones exchanged a look. Seemed like someone also had programmed a very convincing white guy persona into this hologram. 

"Yes, please. If anything happens, hail me, Doctor Mokeme." 

They got out of the room quickly, leaving the hologram grumbling to himself. 

When they stepped into the hallway, they both burst into laughter. 

"Someone's quite full of himself." 

"But wait, I'm sure we can use him. He could teach us and the other crewmembers quite a lot. We'll be here a long time and I know that my medical knowledge is good enough to be Chief Medical Officer, but to also train up a staff capable of working in the shortest amount of time possible? He might be quite helpful with that." 

"If he contents to being a teacher that is. Doesn't seem much like he would like that." 

They laughed some more. 

"Well, we'll see. Right now, all I want is to get to our quarters, eat something and then get some sleep." 

Ajita took her hand. 

"Let's do that, shall we?" 

Finally, they reached their quarters and replicated a light meal for the night before briefing the Captain on the EMH and their plans and then going to sleep. Snuggled together, like always, they talked about what had happened that day. All the horrors and deaths and exhausting things came to light and shared between them lost some of their dreadfulness. 

Plans for the future also emerged now. Ajita's training as a full doctor. Moving into senior officer's quarters together, now that it was a near certainty that Chioma would be assigned Chief Medical Officer. Training new staff with the help of the EMH. 

There was a lot to talk about, a lot of uncertainty, but one thing was for sure, as long as they had each other, it didn't matter that they were stranded in an uncharted part of the galaxy and that they suddenly had enormous responsibility thrust upon them. 

They would prevail together. 

In each others arms, they slept until their alarm raised them an hour before the Captain had said she wanted to meet with Mokeme. 

They got up, showered, got dressed and ate breakfast. Then Mokeme got ready to go. 

Ajita kissed her cheek.

"Good luck, Chief Medical Officer." 

Mokeme smiled and went to the ready room, talking over the comm system to Kes on the way to tell her that she would speak to the Captain about her. Kes agreed to come to the bridge to speak to Janeway after Mokeme was finished. 

Entering the ready room, Mokeme was greeted by a widely smiling Janeway and a little box standing on the table. She had to admit, she was quite a bit nervous. Not that she had never been promoted before, but these were extraordinary circumstances. 

"Lieutenant Mokeme. I think you know why you are here." 

"I think so captain." 

The captain stood up and took the box from the table, opening it and revealing the pip. 

"I am hereby promoting Lieutenant Chioma Mokeme to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. I am also officially instating Lieutenant Commander Chioma Mokeme as Chief Medical Officer. Congratulations! I am sure you will do a fine job."


End file.
